Sledding Without Shoes

I once was on the path of an artist, but then I was seduced by the dark side of the arts, Graphic Design. It seemed so promising with all the ads on TV describing the marketability of a degree in graphic design and all, I decided to take a class to test the waters. By the end I was interested enough that my area of emphasis suddenly shifted from illustration. It was a difficult change, I found myself spending countless hours staring at a computer screen instead of at white pages. I no longer needed to know of such things as stippling and cross-hatching. I didn't need to smell like fixative all the time. And perhaps the greatest perk was that I didn't have to carry around a huge drawing pad and boxes full of supplies anymore! I also noticed that I had more of an air of mystery when I told people what my major was. No one seemed to know what exactly graphic design was, or what graphic designers really do. Within the art department however, there was a different stigma attached to graphic design majors. They were untalented in the fine arts, and much like locusts they were everywhere flooding the world with cheap, polished computer art. I never much cared for the graphic designers, though I seemed to have a knack for it. I carried on working my way through the program to graduate a graphic designer. I carried on until it was almost too late.

It was just the other day when I was hit by a startling revelation. I was sitting in my graphic design class and I realized, I don't want to be a designer! I have been led astray!
I recall in my first art class in college, for my final project I was given free reign to do anything I wanted. I thought for some time about what I wanted to draw. I ended up splashing red watercolor on my hands and painting onto the page, then drawing dozens of pictures only slightly related to each other, and finally I glued several flower buds to the page. It was a strange piece, really quite bizarre, but yet the most pure thing I have created as art. I put a lot of emotions and feelings into that piece. It had my thoughts captured in a very unique way that no one could've understood, yet I did and loved it. I have yet to see a graphic designer do that.